Life at Old Jamestown.
Effect of the Protectorate.
4. About this time monarchy was abolished in England. Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and this government continued until Charles II., exiled son of Charles I., was restored to the throne of England. Virginia shared in some degree the distractions of the mother-country. In 1642 Sir William Berkeley became governor, and remained in office for ten years. His administration was noted as a time of rapid growth and development. The laws were greatly improved. The old disputes about the lands were satisfactorily settled. Cruel punishments were abolished, and the taxes equalized. The general assembly was regularly convened, and Virginia became a free and prosperous State. In 1646 there were twenty thousand people in the colony.
5. In March of 1643, a law was enacted by the assembly declaring that no person who disbelieved the doctrines of the English Church should be allowed to teach, or to preach the gospel, within the limits of Virginia. This act was the source of much bitterness among the people. The few Puritans were excluded from places of trust, and some were driven from their homes. Governor Berkeley was a leader in these persecutions, by which all friendly relations with New England were broken off for many years.
6. Next came another war with the Indians. Early in 1644, the natives planned a general massacre. On the 18th of April the savages fell upon the frontier settlements, and murdered three hundred people before assistance could be brought. The warriors then fled, but were closely followed by the English. Opechancanough was captured, and died a prisoner. The tribes were punished without mercy, and were soon glad to buy a peace by the cession of large tracts of land.
The Election of Governors.
7. For a while the colonists conducted their government as they wished. The important matter of choosing a governor was submitted to the House of Burgesses; when so great a power had been once exercised, it was not likely to be relinquished. Three governors were chosen in this way, and the privilege of electing soon became a right. The assembly even declared that such a right existed, and that it should not be taken away.
8. In 1660 Samuel Matthews, the last of the three elected governors, died. The Burgesses were convened and an ordinance passed declaring that the supreme authority of Virginia was in the colony, and would continue there until a delegate should arrive from the British government. The house then elected as governor Sir William Berkeley, who acknowledged the right of the Burgesses to choose.
9. As soon as it was known in Virginia that Charles II. had become king, Governor Berkeley issued writs in the name of the king for the election of a new assembly. The adherents of the Commonwealth were thrust out of office, and royal favorites established in their places. The Virginians soon found that they had exchanged a republican tyrant with good principles for a monarchial tyrant with bad ones. The former commercial system was reenacted in a worse form than ever. The new law provided that all the colonial commerce should be carried on in English ships; the trade of the colonies was burdened with a heavy tax, and tobacco, the staple of Virginia, could be sold nowhere but in England.
Effects of the Restoration.